DRAFTING WELL STILL TOP FACTOR IN WINNING

Chargers failures can be traced back to draft struggles

The following is a breakdown of the number of draft picks each NFL team made from 2005 to 2009 that are currently still on its roster and that team’s win total from 2010-2012. The purpose is to show what correlation there is between keeping your players and success and also how the Chargers fare in comparison to the rest of the league at keeping their own drafted players. It is sorted by percentage of drafted players retained.

Team Picks remaining on roster Wins

Falcons 13 of 43 (30.2%) 36

Packers 13 of 51 (25.5%) 36

Vikings 7 of 31 (22.6%) 19

Panthers 9 of 42 (21.4%) 15

Chiefs 9 of 43 (20.9%) 19

Titans 9 of 49 (18.4%) 21

Steelers 7 of 41 (17.1%) 32

Ravens 7 of 41 (17.1%) 34

49ers 7 of 42 (16.7%) 30

Giants 6 of 36 (16.7%) 28

Jets 5 of 31 (16.1%) 25

Bengals 7 of 44 (15.9%) 23

Saints 5 of 32 (15.6%) 31

Eagles 7 of 45 (15.6%) 22

Broncos 5 of 36 (13.9%) 25

Patriots 7 of 46 (15.2%) 39

Team Picks remaining on roster Wins

Redskins 5 of 33 (15.2%) 21

Lions 5 of 40 (12.5%) 20

Bills 5 of 40 (12.5%) 16

Cowboys 5 of 42 (11.9%) 22

Bears 5 of 43 (11.6%) 29

Chargers 4 of 35 (11.4%) 24

Texans 4 of 35 (11.4%) 28

Jaguars 4 of 39 (10.3%) 15

Dolphins 4 of 41 (9.8%) 20

Seahawks 3 of 37 (8.1%) 25

Browns 3 of 38 (7.9%) 14

Colts 3 of 43 (7.0%) 23

Buccaneers 3 of 45 (6.7%) 21

Cardinals 2 of 34 (5.9%) 18

Raiders 2 of 37 (5.4%) 20

Rams 2 of 44 (4.5%) 16

First-round keepers

Number of first-round draft choices NFL teams made from 2005-2009 that are on their roster today:

Chiefs: 5 of 6

Jets: 4 of 6

Falcons: 4 of 5

Packers: 4 of 5

Panthers: 4 of 5

49ers: 4 of 7

Broncos: 3 of 5

Ravens: 3 of 5.

Steelers: 3 of 5.

Titans: 3 of 5

Lions: 3 of 6

Giants: 2 of 4

Patriots: 2 of 4

Bills: 2 of 5

Browns: 2 of 5

Jaguars: 2 of 5

Texans: 2 of 5

Vikings: 2 of 5

Cowboys: 2 of 6

Eagles: 1 of 3

Colts: 1 of 4

Redskins: 1 of 4

Seahawks: 1 of 4

Bengals: 1 of 5

Buccaneers: 1 of 5

Rams: 1 of 5

Raiders: 1 of 5.

Saints: 1 of 5

Chargers: 1 of 6

Cardinals: 0 of 5

Dolphins: 0 of 5

Bears: 0 of 3

Eric Weddle did not want to hear it.

In a recent press conference, a TV reporter asked the Chargers safety about lowered national-media expectations for the team. Weddle cut him off — “the expectations aren’t lower around here, ” he said — but the question continued.

There once was preseason talk, heard it every year, about the Chargers being Super Bowl bound. All that talent. So much talent. Maybe, hype’s absence can benefit them?

Weddle, a man whose book “No Excuses, No Regrets” gets released next month, still did not want to hear it. His response of ignoring outside chatter and his vows that “we’re not rebuilding” and “we want to win” were consistent with an attitude he expects from every square inch of Chargers Park — be damned with what lies off its grounds.

But a truth is rooted in the reporter’s topic.

This roster has changed. Thursday’s NFL Draft is a reminder how.

Through the draft, the Chargers built arguably the league’s richest assembly of talent. And through the draft, as that talent was lost to free agency or injuries, they struggled to find replacements and sustain production.

Over the five drafts between 2005-2009, San Diego selected 35 players. Of them, only four are on the current roster. Of the six first-round draft choices, one is still on the team, and that is 2009’s Larry English, an outside linebacker with four career starts and none since 2010.

Weddle, a 2007 second-rounder, is the only impact player still on the team from the five-draft period. Right tackle Jeromey Clary, a 2006 sixth-rounder, is the only other current starter. Reserve quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, a 2006 third-rounder, rounds out the group.

That’s it. No players from the 2008 class. No players from the 2005.

Given the Chargers’ three-year playoff drought, a focus on this five-year draft period was applied to the 31 other teams with an eye on how unique San Diego’s roster composition is and the relationship, if any, that drafting and retaining players has on a team in the standings. It showed that, while it is not a hard-and-fast rule, the teams that retain more of their draft picks win more games.

Tom Telesco said it in January at his first public address as Chargers general manager: He wants to build through the draft and keep his own players.

New coach Mike McCoy has been right on board.

“You always want to keep the guys you draft and re-sign them,” McCoy said last week, “so it’s not just a developmental for some other team. You want to try to keep your guys whenever you can. With today’s salary cap, you’ve got to make tough decisions at certain times. We’re going to do everything we can to draft the right guys and re-sign them and keep them long-term.”

No one has drafted and retained better than Atlanta and Green Bay.

Their 36-game win total the past three years is tied for second most in the NFL, and their 13 draft selections still on roster is tied for first. The Packers won the Super Bowl in 2010, and the Falcons lost in January’s NFC Championship Game to San Francisco, which located five starters for its Super Bowl team in the 2007 draft.

Thirteen of the Falcons’ 43 picks, or an NFL-high 30.3 percent, remain in Atlanta. Ten of 17 choices in the first three rounds are among them, as are four of five first-round draft picks and the first six picks in the 2008 class, including first-rounders quarterback Matt Ryan and left tackle Sam Baker.

Thirteen of 51 Packers picks from 2005-2009, or 25.5 percent, are in Green Bay. That includes four of five first-round choices and seven of 14 selections from the top four rounds in 2007-2009.

At 39, New England owns the most regular-season wins over the past three years.

Its draft-day success is typically viewed as a key part of that, but for this five-draft period, the results, while solid, were not spectacular.

Seven of 46 picks are still on the roster, a 15.2 percentage that ranks 16th in the NFL. Zero of nine picks remain from the 2007 class. While the Pats landed four second-round selections in 2008, none of those four are on the current roster.

Personnel acquisition also involves free agency and trades, and New England has success stories there. But its win total also underscores the importance of having a quality quarterback, like eight-time Pro Bowler Tom Brady.

Compare this to Kansas City.

It statistically had the AFC’s best draft success from 2005-2009 while twice drafting in the top-five position. Nine of 43 picks (20.9 percent) are on the roster, including five of six first-rounders. Running back Jamaal Charles, wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, outside linebacker Tamba Hali, inside linebacker Derrick Johnson and punter Dustin Colquitt have been selected to at least one Pro Bowl.

Still, the 2-14 Chiefs had the worst record last season. Their team quarterback rating of 63.8 was the league’s second lowest. Kansas City traded for quarterback Alex Smith last month and owns Thursday’s No. 1 overall pick.

Elsewhere in the division, Denver has kept five of 36 drafted players (13.9 percent). Quarterback Jay Cutler, outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil and wide receiver Brandon Marshall were part of the 2005 class. Marshall and Cutler were traded, the latter in a deal that led to selecting defensive end Robert Ayers in 2009 and wide receiver Demaryius Thomas in 2010.

The Marshall trade helped the Broncos package a deal for Tim Tebow in 2010, but they’d solve their quarterback dilemma through free agency in 2012, courtesy of Peyton Manning.

Meanwhile, the Raiders simply struggled.

Despite picking seventh or higher in four of five drafts, only two of 37 draft choices are on the roster.

The Chargers retained 11.4 percent of draft picks between 2005-2009, tied for 22nd lowest in the NFL. They’re one of five teams ranked in the bottom 11 in retainment percentage to hire a new GM this offseason. Ten of the 16 top teams in draft-pick retainment averaged a winning record the past three years. Three of the bottom 16 teams were winners in that same span.

First-round draft choices come at a different quality, but from a quantitative standpoint, San Diego is one of 10 teams with exactly one first-rounder still in their building. Arizona, Chicago and St. Louis have zero.

It’s clear hitting on prospects is easier said than done.

“It is a complete inexact science,” Telesco said last week. “We try and prepare and do all this work and all these numbers, testing and everything. But in the end, there’s just a lot of things you can’t grade. That’s why it’s hard to hit on every single guy, all seven guys or eight guys or nine guys.”

In January, Telesco inherited a roster that has improved its draft fortune of late. Defensive ends Corey Liuget and Kendall Reyes, inside linebacker Donald Butler, wide receiver Vincent Brown, outside linebacker Melvin Ingram, running back Ryan Mathews, nose tackle Cam Thomas and special teams ace Darrell Stuckey are part of a young core, although it’s too early to tell what exactly will develop of their careers.